Saw this and thought of you. No idea if it's true or not as it doesn't cite any source, but still...
That is unfortunately true: you can get into serious doody for having no TV license - the cost for this for radio and TV use yearly is ZAR265 (about $26) - but you can escape the law on other terms.
BTW, the quote at the bottom of the page "It's the right thing to do" is the SABC's license division's logo.